Blogs from Hamilton, North Island, New Zealand, Oceania - page 4

The award winning Hamilton Gardens are well worth a visit. There is always something different to see, experience and photograph, regardless of the time of year. www.hamiltongardens.co.nz will provide you with all the information you need to make the most of your free visit. Children: plenty of paths to tear round on, gardens to explore, plus there is a lake with the obligatory ravenous ducks. Dogs: if you are travelling with your dog, you will find they are not welcome in the gardens but there is a large grassy area opposite the carpark where they can have a run. There is also a path down to the river where they can run and paddle in the shade. Geocaches: There are plenty of geocaches to find, in and around the gardens. The best one for kids is ... read more

20 days and counting!! The bags are half packed; the dentist, docs, shots and do's are all but done and now the checking out of technology has begun! Hopefully we will be able to send you photos and news to inspire you to keep dreaming and planning of all the things you want to see and do....just don't forget to invite us some of the time. When you have got time, add to my blog so that we can make sure that we are communicating well with you ? Over and out ?... read more

Day 4 to Day 10. Firstly a big thank you to everyone who sent Fran birthday wishes. We drove back to Christchurch as England were playing Scotland in the Hagley Oval. very different to MCG in Melbourne, smaller pitch and a lot less crowd capacity. More relaxed and a better result but not a convincing win. We left Christchurch and travelled north through Kaikoura, Blenheim, Nelson and finally Picton where we have to pick up the ferry to North Island on the 26th Feb. South Island has wonderful scenery ranging from ocean views, sandy beaches and big mountains and open plains. The towns were small (some the size of Kings Langley), some were back in the 1980s with individual shops selling specific goods such as green grocers, bakers etc. The town's roads were built straight and ... read more

We enjoyed a bit of a lie in for our first morning at Hamilton, as we had planned to go to the Waitomo Caves for one of their afternoon tours later on. I don’t think that we actually took any photos in Hamilton itself as, to be honest, there wasn’t really a lot to see, and we didn’t really spend a lot of time there! We left the motel (which was very nice by the way – very spacious and we had a full kitchenette too which was a bit of a bonus!) at around 12:30pm, and we drove down to the caves, which were about an hour away. We reached the ‘Spellbound’ tour office at around 1:45pm, which meant that we were just on time for their 2pm tour. We purchased our tickets ... read more

And so, the first leg of our epic journey began with an incredibly hectic Monday. We woke up in the morning feeling pretty good about our day- just needed to do laundry, finish packing, check out of our apartment at 3:30 pm, and meet up with the choir to load the bus at 6. Well, things started to get complicated when I left for an internship appointment at 11 and then Kaylee didn’t feel too hot and needed to get some medicine from the student health center. We threw our clothes in the wash before we left, with just enough money left on our laundry card to dry two loads… perfect. Well… my meeting went great and I got some great leads, but Kaylee had complications at the health center since she is no longer a ... read more